when you close your eyes, do you see lightning?

I am writing this down before listening this podcast, which I know to be knight themed. I don't vibe with the romanticization of knights and depending on how this episode goes, this may be the first PBC episode I have to abandon. Knights are state military or private army/police. So to me, the premise of the episode, knights running a summer camp for a teenagers, is the medieval fantasy version of ROTC/sea cadets/youth military programs. It's horrifying. I'm hoping the episode treats it as such.

Storytelling is trickery. The first half of Knightfall draws you in with glamour and glory, lets you feast on its queerness, explores the cozy summer camp vibes. The underlying tension builds slowly. It's easy to look away from it at first. Why focus on what "sworn enemy knights" means when you could think of it as "star-crossed lovers"? You're not being forced to fight an old friend, it's a traditional sparring match!

This part of the show I found the most difficult to listen to, because I was double-booking. Knightfall invites you to buy into the romantasy, lays it out like a tasty meal. Feast on my tropes. Enemies to lovers. We used to be friends. But the tension builds like nerves before a battle until it can no longer be denied. Once the conflicts were out in the open, I could breathe. I love how Knightfall took the time to explore these conflicts. Great interpersonal writing and the VAs did an incredible job.

This show holds a lot of grief. And if you're not on that page from the start, you will be by the end.

Queerness seems to be completely normalized in this show, something I think a lot of people will enjoy. I appreciated how that normalization was used to emphasize the control of the knighthood system.

CASEY (dismissive): No, I want to wear it where it can be seen properly. The lady's gift shouldn't be hidden, it should be on display. ARDEN (scoffs): Don't quote the camp handbook at me, Casey. If you wish to ignore that the handbook also includes a section on safety during spars, I suppose that burden lies on you. Just… be careful, okay?

Maybe it's the aro in me, but codified knighthood chivalry makes it just another military protocol. Showing off a lady's gift isn't an expression of queerness, then. It is horrifying. And to be clear: I am not talking about Casey's choice not to wear a helmet. I'm talking about a child receiving a gift and thinking of Duty, even if the kid thinks of it as Glamorous Duty. The way military youth programs mold thinking at such a crucial, formative time. All the big and all the small ways the military trains someone to think about what they are and what they represent. A small cog in a large machine. A Representative carrying the burden of perfection. Handbooks and inspection.

I like the pace at which the characters were introduced. There were a bunch of 1:1 scenes early on, which helped me connect names to voices. There also seemed to be an archetype/pattern in the characterization: the northern knights being more introverted and calculating (cold), the southern knights more brash and spirited (fiery). There's also stunning art of the characters on the Knightfall tumblr, though these (currently) don't have an image description. You can find them over on @knightfallpod

There are a lot of things I'd like to see explored more if the show continues. Tell me more about the Hedge Knights! How did this summer camp get started as a semi-neutral meeting ground? What is the political tension between the North and South Kingdom like outside of this bubble?